Aberdeen chief insists stadium plans won't hurt results on pitch

Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne has insisted that plans for a new stadium at Kingsford won’t affect the budget for the playing squad – and admitted they’ve been funding the project for a number of years already.

The Dons were recently granted permission to build the 20,000-seater stadium and are looking to raise £40 million to complete it.

(Photo by Scott Baxter/Getty Images)

Milne claimed that Derek McInnes’ budget is safe as he lauded the growth of the club in recent years as they’ve pushed plans for the stadium forward and impressed on the pitch.

“We’ve been able to do that without any funds being diverted from the football operation and in that same period of time we’ve been able to grow substantially the investment into the whole football operation and that is very much our plans going forward.”

The Dons hope to have the first stage completed by the end of the summer and allow the club to move their training operations to the new facility eight miles from Pittodrie.

(Photo by Scott Baxter/Getty Images)

Pittodrie is long past it’s best and finally getting to a new ground would be huge for the Dons.

Whether Milne can find the money needed to build it while not affecting the playing squad remains to be seen though.

James has covered Scottish football at all levels from under-9 right up to the SPFL. He has written for a variety of websites and magazines such as the Daily Record, Youth Football Scotland, Shoot! Magazine, the Scottish FA and SB Nation. James has been attending games since 1994 and also has a keen interest in Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire.